Ubuntu 18.04 LTS

Well I had read that Ubuntu was dropping the horrible "Unity" (AKA GARBAGE desktop). But after the first install I was very disappointed to see the "Unity" garbage is still there! Sure having pictures to click on and no menu to read is great for those of us that can't read, are to dumb to find anything in a menu, really just to dumb to have a computer!

Just like 14 and 16 you can't remove the worthless side bar unless you install another Distro. So I UPGRADED it to Xubuntu again added my menu's back NO MORE SIDE BAR! But it's all new so a few of the old features I really liked no longer work, you need to check privacy and turn off all the geo-location, tracking, data reporting. :( So it's a lot like Windows 10 of course $199 cheaper! And Ubuntu will still let you turn off all the new not needed annoying things. Good luck trying to do that in Windows 10 not that you can't because you can kill 90% of the spyware but after a couple updates and re-boots it's all back! So yes Ubuntu is still 100% better then Windows 10 but 18.04 is not near as good as 16.04.

I'm not sure what OS I will be using in the future I pretty much use Xubuntu 16.04.4 24/7. I haven't booted the POS Windows 10 for about a week. And I have installed Windows 8 Pro NOT 8.1 (last good Windows OS) in VM/VB in Linux so if there is something I'm forced to use that runs only in windows I can just start VirtualBox and boot Windows 8 up. It always make sense to run the slower OS (Windows) inside the faster OS Linux.

So here are a few things that so far are not working in 18.04 and a couple things that are super STUPID in 18.04.

Pro's:1.) It's the newest version it will run on the newest hardware. (tested on 8 gen intel)2.) Like all versions of Linux no need to have two computers to get it working. All the hardware, network, wireless, sound, bluetooth, graphics card all work on the first boot.3.) It's faster I did not see that.4.) So far only comes in 64bit which everyone should be using anyway!

Con's:1.) The Unity garbage side bar is still there.2.) You need to swipe up (with your mouse) to unlock the the login screen! Like a STUPID PHONE!3.) grub-customizer no longer installs (that may change)4.) Software Center will no longer install with terminal. You need to use the new annoying app crap.5.) The file manager I like is gone and will not install in terminal. (basic with tabs and you need to be able to read to use it)6.) The internet browsers were much slower like using Windows. :(

Then as you can see 16.04 hardware support is still active so 8 & 9th gen should still work. And you will still get maintenance updates until 2021! Maybe by 2020 (20.04 LTS) Ubuntu will dump the mobile garbage and Unity!

The cons list may get much longer once I upgrade or like going from Windows 8 to Windows 10 down-grade my 16.04 to 18.04. I will have a more detailed list of all the things that no longer work in Ubuntu 18.04. Yes I have image back-ups of 16.04 so it's easy to roll back from 18.04. I do the same thing in Windows I down-grade to Windows 10 it's still junk roll back to Windows 8!

Over all I would say if you have 16.04 installed keep it. If you can read you don't need pictures to click and a search box to find terminal install Xubuntu. If you are installing Linux for the first time and you're using 8th gen or higher I'm afraid you will be forced into using 18.04. I would still try to install 16.04 it you can't tweak it into working maybe look at another Distro.

Conclusion:18.04 is just a slower, dumb-ed down version of 16.04 with a whole bunch of new mobile features. Which have zero interest to me my phone is a PHONE! If I ever see 20% of the visitors using any of my sites are using mobile I may give mobile another look. But looking at the stats on 40+ websites and only 0.02% of the visitors are on mobile it's not something I would waste anytime on.

Edit - August 17 2018A clean install on a 8th gen intel and SSD seemed very sluggish and slow. But upgrading from my tweaked version of 16.04.1 Xubuntu it was much faster. I have no idea why a clean install seems crippled buy an upgrade is smoking fast! And if you have all the stuff installed already that 18.04 will not let you install it still works!

So the best option for using 18.04/18.04.1 install 16.04.1, tweak it, install everything you want and like. Then upgrade to 18.04.1. it will all still be there and working. You will need to reinstall or upgrade a few things. So far all the things that the clean install would not let me install I still have and they are working fine!

If you upgrade from 16.04.1 to 18.04.1 most likely it will say it failed. Then restart everything will be a mess, graphic's, sound, mouse... Restart it again it will be a little better but you will still need to fix a few things. Add some of your software back, reinstall Slimjet if you use it, turn on updates for things it disables. But I got most things working again.

A couple things I have seen on the internet.

18.04 is slower then 16.04 just not true 18.04 is much much faster and boots in half the time. If you want to see slow try Windows 10 for a couple days now that is SLOW! Maybe it doesn't run as fast on older or slower hardware? Not sure on that but on mine it's blazing fast!

LOL Kids!I saw a post today saying LMBO "Ubuntu 18.04 has the NEW flat look" NEW? I guess DOS 1.0 and Windows 3.0, 3.1, 3.3, 95 were all before his time? Yep 30 years ago all the OS'es had that "NEW" flat look!